Tilvitnanir

„To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and Eternity in an hour“

--Úr ljóðinu Auguires of Innocence eftir William Blake

„I hold it true, whate'er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.“

-- Alfred Lord Tennyson

„The worst sin towards our human beings is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That is the essence of inhumanity.“

-- George Bernard Shaw

„Think where man's glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had Such friends“

-- William Butler Yeats

„Where today are the Pequot? Where the Narangansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket? They have vanished before the avarice and opression of the white man, as snow before a summer sun“

-- Tecumseh, höfðingi Shawnee-indíána

„The white man made many promises. So many I can not remember them all. Of all these promises only one did he keep. He said he would take our land, and he took it.“

-- Red Cloud, höfðingi Sioux-indíána

„It is not the transient breath of poetic incense that women want; each can recieve that from a lover. It is not the life-long sway; it needs but to become a coquette, a shrew, or a good cook to be sure of that. It is not money, nor notoriety, nor the badges of authority, that men have appropriated to themselves. If demands made in their behalf lay stress of any of those particulars, those who make them have not searched deeply into the need. It is for that which at once includes all of these and precludes them; which would not be forbidden power, lest there be temptation to steal and misuse it; which would not have the mind perverted by flattery from a worthiness of esteem. It is for that which is the birthright of every being capable to recieve it, the freedom, the religious, the intelligent freedom of the universe, to use its means, to learn its secret as far as nature has enabled them, with God alone for their guide and their judge.“

-- Margaret Fuller, The Great Lawsuit

„If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth, certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.“

„All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entances; And one man in his time lays many parts, His acts being seven ages. As first the infant Mewling and puking in the nurses' arms And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchelAnd shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress' eybrow. Then the soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputationEven in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice, in fair round belly with good capon lined, with eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipperer'd pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide For shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,Tutnign again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childinshness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans everything."

„If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don't bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man“

-- Fjodor Dostojevskí

„Maybe we can start again in the new rich land in California, where the fruit grows. We'll start over. But you can't start. Only a baby can start. You and me , why, we're all that's been. The anger of a moment, the thousand pictures, that's us. This land, this red land, is us; and the flood years and the draught years and the dust years are us. We can't start again. The bitterness we sold to the junk man , he got it all right, but we have it still. And when the owner men told us to go, that's us; and when the tractor hit the house; that's us until we're dead. To California or any place , every one a drum major leading a parade of hurts, marching with our bitterness. And some day the armies of bitterness will all be going the same way. And they'll all walk together and there will be a dead terror from it.“

-- Úr The Grapes of Wrath eftir John Steinbeck

„An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind“

-- Mahatma Ghandi

„When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace“

-- Jimi Hendrix

„Ours is but a small part in a world-wide struggle for peace, justice and equality between human beings and between nations, for the preservation of our planet. It can all be summed up in one word, which both in Hebrew and in Arabic means not only peace, but also wholeness, security and wellbeing: Shalom, Salaam.“

-- Uri Avnery

„The western land, nervous under the beginning change. The Western States, nervous as horses before a thunder storm. The great owners, nervous, sensing a change, knowing nothing of the nature of the change. The great owners, striking at the immiediate thing, the windening government, the growing labor unity; striking at new taxes, at pans; not knowing that these are results, not causes. Results, not causes; results, not causes. The causes lie deep and simply; the causes are a hunger in the stomach, multiplied a million times, a single soul, hunger for joy and some security, multiplied a million times; muscles and mind aching to grow, to work, to create, multiplied a million times. The last clear definite function of man: muscles aching to work, minds achying to create beyond the single need: this is man. To build a wall, to build a house, a dam, and in the wall and house and dam to put something of Manself, and to Manself take back something of the wall, the house, ther dam; to take hard muscles from the lifting, to take the clear lines and form from concieving. For man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments. This you may say of man: when theories change and crash, when scholles, philosophies, when narrow dark alleys of thought, national, religious, economic, grow and disintegrate, man reaches, stumbles forward, painfully, mistakenly sometimes. Having steped forward, he may slip back, but only half a step, never the full step back. This you may say and know it and know it. This you may know when the bombs plummet out of the dark planes on the marketplace, when prisoners are stuck like pigs, when the crushed bodies drain filthily in the dust. You may say it and know it in this way. If the step were not being taken, if the stumbling-forward ache were not alive, the bombs would not fall, the throats would not be cut. Fear the time when the bombs stop falling while the bombers live - for every bomb is proof that the spirit has not died. And fear the time when the strikes stop while the great owners live - for every little beaten strike is proof that the step is being taken. And tis you can know - fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of Manself, and this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe.“

-- Úr The Grapes Of Wrath eftir John Steinbeck

„People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.“

-- V" í myndasögunni V For Vendetta eftir Alan Moore og David Lloyd

Pity is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the sufferer. Terror is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the secret cause."

-- Úr A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man eftir James Joyce

„We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.“

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." -- Mark Twain

All you need is love" -- úr samefndu lagi Bítlanna

(Varúð! Spillir!)

„The Jewish Barber: 'I'm sorry but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black men, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others' happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls; has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge as made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these things cries out for the goodness in man; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say "Do not despair." The misery that has come upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.'

(In a passionate raging voice now) 'Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to these brutes who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle and use you as cannon fodder! Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men---machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are men! With the love of humanity in your hearts! Don't hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to the happiness of us all. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us unite!'

(Here, Chaplin pauses, seeming to gather himself, and the picture soon fades out to a scene of refugee Hannah (Paulette Goddard) with her family in a peaceful field, seemingly hearing his words.)

,Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up! Look up, Hannah! The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kinder world, where men will rise above their greed, their hate and their brutality. Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow! Into the light of hope, into the future, the glorious future that belongs to you, to me, and to all of us. Look up, Hannah! Look up!'

Hannah's Father: 'Hannah?'

Hannah: 'Shhh. Listen.'“

--Lokasenan í The Great Dictator eftir Charlie Chaplin

„At any rate, spring is here, even in London N.I, and they can't stop you enjoying it. This is a satisfying reflection. How many a time have I stood watching the toads mating, or a pair of hares having a boxing match in the young corn, and thought of all the important persons who would stop me enjoying this if they could. But luckily they can't. So long as you are not actually ill, hungry, frightened or immured in a prison or a holiday camp, spring is still spring. The atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun, and neither the dictators nor the bureaucrats, deeply as they disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it.“

-- Niðurlag greinarinnar Some Thoughts On The Common Toad eftir George Orwell (rituð 1946)

„,If there were none of this magnamity in warfare, then we would only undertake it when, as now, it was a matter for which it was worth while to meet one's death. Then there would not be war because Pavel Invanitch had insulted Mikhail Ivanitch. But if there must be a war like the present one, let it be war. Then the zeal and intensity of the troops would always be what it is now. Then all the Westphalians and Hessians whom Napoleon had brought with him would not have come against us to Russia, and we would never have gone to fight in Austria and Prussia without knowing why. War is not sweetness and light, but the dirtiest thing in the world, and it is necessary to understand it as such and not play at war. It is neccessary to take this frightful necessity sternly and seriously. This is the core of the matter; avoid falsehood, let war be war, and not sport. For otherwise war becomes a favorite pasttime for idle and frivolous men. The military are the most honoured of any class. But what is war, and what is necessary for its sucess, and what are the laws of military society? The end and aim of war is murder; the weapons of war are espionage, and treachery and the encouragement of treachery, the ruin of the inhabitants, and the pillage and robbery of their posessions for the maintenance of the troops; deception and lies which pass under the name of military finesse. The privilages of the military class are the lack of freedom, that is, discipline, idleness, ignorance, rudeness, debauchery and drunkenness. And yet this is the highest caste in society, respected by all. All rulers exept the Emperor of China wear military uniforms, and the one who has killed the greatest number of men gets the greatest reward. Tens of thousands of men meet, just as they will tomorrow, to murder one another; they will massacre and maim; and afterwards thanksgiving will be celebrated, because many men have been killed , the number is always exaggerated , and victory will be clamed on the supposition that the more men killed, the greater the credit. Think of God looking down and listening to them!” exclaimed Price Andrei, in his sharp, piping voice. Ah, my dear fellow, of late life has been a heavy burden. I see I have obtanied too deep an insight into things. It is not for man to taste the knowledge of good and evil, well, it is not for long now, he added. However, it is your bedtime; and it is time for me to turn too. Go back to Gorki!' suddenly exclaimed Prince Andrei...“

„We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.“

-- Malcolm X

„We are not wholly bad or good Who live our lives under Milk Wood, And Thou, I know, wilt be the first To see our best side, not our worst.“

"We are here on earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different"

-- Kurt Vonnegut

"There is no reason why good can't triumph over evil, if only angels would get organized among the lines of the mafia."

-- Kurt Vonnegut

"Personally, I have no bone to pick with graveyards"

-- Samuel Beckett

"Duty is what one expects from others, it is not something one does oneself"

-- Oscar Wilde

"Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire"

-- George Bernard Shaw

"Satire is a sort of glass wherein the beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own"

-- Jonathan Swift

"I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use - silence, exile and cunning"

-- James Joyce

„While there is a lower class I am in it, while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free“

-- Eugene Victor Debs

„You can fool some people some time, but you can't fool all the people all the time.“

-- úr laginu Stand up for Your Right með Bob Marley and the Wailers

"Þrælarnir munu selja herra sína og þeim* mun vaxa vængir"

*þrælunum

-- úr kvikmyndinni Cobra Verde eftir Werner Herzog

„Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.“

-- Langston Hughes, „Dreams“.

„Perhaps, when we remember wars, we should take off our clothes and paint ourselves blue and go on all fours all day long and grunt like pigs. That would shurely be more appropriate than noble oratoryand shows of flags and well-oiled guns.“

"I don't know if god exists, but it would be better for his reputation if he didn't."

-- Jules Renard

"One of its charming miracles is that through its form, poetry can resist the content of authoritarian discourse. By resorting to understatement, concrete and physical language, a poet contends against abstraction, generalization, hyperbole and the heroic language of hot-headed generals and bogus lovers alike... Poetry remains one of the astonishing forms in our hands to resist obscurantism and silence. And since we cannot wash the polluted words of hatred the same way we wash greasy dishes with soap and hot water, we the poets of the world, continue to write our poems to restore the respect of meaning and to give meaning to our existence."

-- Mourid Barghouti, palestínskur rithöfundur og ljóðskáld.

"If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliché that must have been left behind in the sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal."

-- John Lennon

„Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans“

-- John Lennon

Trillian: „Can we drop your ego for a moment? This is important“

Zaphod: „If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now“

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down "happy". They told me I didn't understand understand the assignment and I told them they didn't understand life".